Michelle Coursey writes in the New Zealand Herald about some of the nutrients we need every day, why we need them, and how to get them.
The nutrients include iodine, selenium and iron.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Selenium
“What is it? New Zealand is one of a group of countries that has very variable and low levels of selenium in its soils, which means many Kiwis don’t get much of this essential trace element. The National Nutrition Survey in 1997 (the most recent record of the country’s nutritional health) found men and women had low, but sufficient, levels of the element in their diet, but those levels are much less than many other Western countries’ averages.
“Why do I need it? “Selenium helps protect our bodies against damage by acting as an anti-oxidant, helping to regulate blood pressure and keeping our immune system healthy,” Dickinson explains. The recommended dietary intake of selenium is 60mcga day for men, and 70mcg a day for women.”